Hezbollah’s secretary-general says Muslims will eventually prevail over the Israeli regime and its allies’ efforts to interfere with their observing their religious rituals at al-Aqsa Mosque in the holy occupied city of al-Quds.
“I am still hopeful that we will [eventually] pray together at the sacred al-Aqsa Mosque,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address on Tuesday.
He pointed to the anniversary of Naksa (Setback), which marks the Israeli regime’s occupation of a whole host of regional territories -- including the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, where al-Quds is located, Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms, and Syria’s Golan Heights -- in a Western-backed war in 1967.
The Hezbollah chief noted how the Palestinians across the occupied territories had been struggling “with patience and sacrifice” to preserve the status quo in al-Quds and the al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound throughout decades that have passed since the war.
Now, the international Muslim Ummah (Nation) has to pursue this matter shoulder to shoulder with them, Nasrallah said.
Imam Khomeini’s legacy
He also commemorated the memory of Imam Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic in Iran.
Nasrallah hailed how the late revolutionary leader breathed life into the global Muslim Nation and revitalized the spirit of resistance and fighting against oppression.
Gratitude towards Ansarullah
The Hezbollah leader, meanwhile, voiced gratitude towards Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement, for the latter’s expression of support for resistance efforts aimed at preserving al-Quds and the Islamic sanctities there.
Nasrallah also congratulated the Yemeni people for their successful resistance and struggle against a United States-backed Saudi Arabia-led coalition that has been attacking the impoverished country since 2015.
“Now, we are witnessing the defeat of the aggressive Saudi-American coalition,” he said, adding, “Ever since the first day [of the war], we had faith in the Yemeni people’s strength for steadfastness and victory.”
‘Al-Manar broadcasts resistance’s voice, image’
Nasrallah, who was speaking on the 30th anniversary of al-Manar’s foundation, commended the Lebanese television network as a broadcaster “founded on the basis of piety to serve as [the outlet airing] the resistance’s voice and image.”
The network had never pursued competitive agendas, he said, adding that it bore its own message and had made sacrifices on the path of trying to send it across.
Lebanon’s economy
Meanwhile, the Hezbollah official slammed those businessmen hoarding foodstuffs and medicines amid Lebanon’s dire economic conditions. He urged the authorities to confront them in order to be able to resolve part of the country’s economic woes.
The fuel crisis in the country, which had had the Lebanese queue up at gas stations could be resolved “within days” through the purchase of fuel products from Iran, Nasrallah noted.
Such transaction, however, required “a courageous political decision,” he noted, apparently referring to the prospect of Washington’s frowning on Beirut.
“Whatever humiliation that the Lebanese suffer from at gas stations can swiftly end by taking the decision to put the US [dollar] aside and use the Lebanese lyra to import oil from Iran,” Nasrallah stated. He said the movement would act on its own initiative to negotiate with the Islamic Republic over the imports once it despairs of Beirut’s sense of responsibility in the area.
The Hezbollah chief, meanwhile, dispelled rumors about his health condition, saying he was currently not suffering from any complications.